Automatic electric sadiron



Aug. 27, 1935. H. c. WRIGHT AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SADIRON Filed June 19, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet l V I IIIIIIIIII' 1,111,, 11" VIIIIIIIIII IIIIIII Aug. 27, 1935. H. c. WRIGHT AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SADIRON 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 19, 1934 3 a z 1 n H: 1 n O ru HH 6 a m 4 w L m J 6 3 2 a a J K V W v 4 J 3 a 2 1 8 1 A, 1 w u M 8 3 Q Jr M M M u Patented Aug. 27, 1935 I 2,012,490

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC ELECTRIC SADIRON Horace C. Wright, Chicago, 111., assignor to Chicago Flexible Shaft Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application June 19, 1934, Serial No. 731,316

4 Claims. (Cl. 219-25) This invention relates to sadirons, and has spesadiron wherein improved means are employed cial reference to an automatic sadiron having imfor operating the thermostatic switch, including proved means for manually adjusting the operatmeans for operating the switch from a. remote ing temperature of the iron between certain limipoint wherein the temperature limits are maintations for ironing operations requiring diflerent tained by means operating wholly within the body 5 sadiron temperatures. of the iron. A still further object of the inven- The invention has particular reference to the tion is to provide a sadiron wherein the manutype of sadiron having a body and a handle ally operated member is located at a remote point spaced from the body, the body carrying a therfrom the body of the iron and an air cooled memmostatic switch for controlling the supply of curber connects the manually operated member with 10 rent to the iron, the switch being arranged to be the thermostatic switch, whereby to locate the manually adjusted to maintain any of a plurality manually operated member in a convenient posiof different iron temperatures dependent upon tion for the thumb and forefinger and to mainthe type of work. With this type of iron it is tain the member at a relatively low temperature.

customary to place the manual control member Other objects and attendant advantages will 15 on the top of the iron body where it may be mabecome apparent from the following description nipulated by the operator to select a desired ironand the accompanying drawings, in whiching temperature. This type of construction is Figure 1 is a vertical section through a sadiron open to a number of serious objections. For exembodying my invention;

ample, the manual control member is usually 10- Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic showing of the tem- 20 cated so close to the hot cover of the iron that perature control and thermostatic switch; there is eminent danger of injury to the opera- Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figtor through contact with the cover. Furtherure 1; more, because of this location, the control mem- Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front view of the iron ber becomes highly heated, even though made of showing a manually operated member; 25

insulating material, since it is necessary that Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3; a metallic or similar post extend between the Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view 01' the front end manually controlled member and the thermostat of a handle showing the manually operated within the iron. This post conducts a consider member, and

an able amount of heat from the highly heated in- Fig. 7 is a section on the line |-l of Fig. 6. terior of the iron to at least a portion of the con- For convenience in illustration, I have herein trol member which thereby becomes highly heatshown my invention as applied to a sadiron haved. This high temperature is not only uncoming a body comprising a sole plate 9, a pressure fortable and dangerous to the operator, but weight II, and a cover l2 carrying a handle I3 causes failure of the control member which fresupported on the cover by means of straps I4 35 quently breaks because of the high temperature. and i5 secured to the pressure weight II by A further objection is the fact that the control means of screws i6 and Il which also serve to member, being located between the handle and hold the cover in position. An electric heating the body, interferes with the free movement of element I8 is positioned between the pressure the operator's hand on the handle, the hands freweight and the sole plate for the purpose of 40 quently striking the control member, injuring the providing heat to the iron. The heating eleknuckles of the operator. Likewise, this location ment is provided with apertures I9 and 2i for of the manual control member is inconvenient, purposes presently to be disclosed, and carries located as it is directly beneath the handle, and electric contact points 22 on opposite sides of because of this inconvenience, the operatoris frethe aperture 2!. The body also carries a heel 45 quently burned in adjusting the operating temrest 23 within which is secured a spring 24 properature of the iron. jecting through the cover and carrying a pair of An object of the present invention is to procontact members 25 on its free end for coopervide a sadiron wherein the manually operable atlon with contact points 22 to close the electemperature control member is located on the trio circuit through the motor. The usual ter- 50 handle, away from the heated portion of the iron minals 26 are'enclosed in an angular portion 21 to preserve the member and prevent injury to the of the heel rest which serves as a guide and operator's hands either accidentally, or upon masupport for the conventional cord plug. A plate nipulation of the control member. 28 is countersunk in the top of the sole plate 9 65 Another object of the inventionis to provide a and attached thereto by means of screws 29.

This plate carries a pair of spaced ears extend ing downwardly into a well 32 in the sole plate for the purpose of supporting a bimetallic olement 33 having trunnions 34 pivotally supported in the ears 3!. One end of the bimetallic element 33 carries an upwardly extending finger 35 projecting through the aperture 2| and arranged through warpage of the bimetallic element to raise and lower the contact points 25 and thereby open and close the circuit through the heating element.

The plate 28 also carries an upwardly extending boss 36 (Fig. 3) which is riveted at its lower end to the plate, as shown at 31, and is internally threaded for the reception of a screw 38. The screw 38 is also internally threaded to receive a set screw 39 which bears against the bottom of the bore in the boss 86 to prevent accidental rotation of the screw 38. The boss 36 has a laterally disposed arm 4| having a vertical opening for the reception of a pin 42 which extends downwardly therethrough and through the plate 28 for contact with the end 43 of the bimetallic element 33. The upper end of the pin 42 has a head 44 of such radius as to extend into close proximity with the screw 38 while the screw 38 has flanges 45 and 46 limiting the travel of the head 44 and, consequently, of the pin 42. The flanges 45 and 46, therefore, limit the movement of the bimetallic element about the pivotal points 34 under the influence of the pin 42 which serves to limit the operating temperatures of the iron.

A lever 41 (Fig. 5) is carried on trunnions 48 and 49 on the top of the pressure weight ll through a pin 5| which pivotally carries the lever for rotation on a horizontal axis. The lever is of channel iron form and has downwardly projecting sides 52 and 53 through which the pin 5! passes. One end of the lever extends over the upper end of the pin 42 and carries an adjustable screw 54 for adjusting the distance between the end of the lever and pin 42. This end of the lever is cut away as shown at 55 for access to the upper end of the screw 38 through an opening in the cover closed by means 01 a friction plug 56. The opposite end of the lever 4'! is slotted, as shown at 57, for the passage of the bolt I1 and associated parts, and for the reception of the lower end of a translation member 58 which is pivotally carried on the end of the lever by means of a transverse pin 59 extending through the sides 52 and 53. The translation member 58 extends upward through an opening 6| in the cover and lies within a slot 62 in the handle strap I5, terminating in the handle, as will presently be described.

The handle straps l4 and I 5 are secured to the handle by means of a bolt 63 which passes through the handle from end to end. The upper end of the strap I5 carries a sleeve 64 through which the bolt 63 passes and the end of the bolt bears against the outer end of this sleeve, as best shown in Figure 1. A knob 65 is rotatably carried on the sleeve 64 and has a finger 66 adapted for convenient rotation between the thumb and forefinger. The upper end of the .translation member 58 carries a fork 61 (Fig.

7) receiving the sleeve 64 and guided between the knob 65 and the upper end of the handle strap l5. The translation member 58 carries a forwardly extending projection 68 and the knob 56 has a spirally disposed slot 69 for the reception thereof. Thus, upon rotation of the knob 65, the presence of the pin 68 in the slot 69 causes the translation member 58 to be moved verti- 'cally, thereby tilting the lever 41 to adjust the position of the pin 42 and, consequently, the temperature at which the contact points 22 and 25 will be separated. As shown in Fig. 6, the knob 65 may advantageously carry suitable tempera.- ture notations, such as "Oflf", Low, High", and Medium, and the handle 13 may be provided with an arrow or other indicating means to indicate the position of the knob 65. As shown in Figure 1, the forward end of the handle is relieved as shown at H for the reception of the upper end of the handle strap 95 and the translation member 56 so that the knob 65 will rest directly against the end of the handle, as shown in Fig. 6 for convenience in operation by the thumb or finger while grasping the handle and also to improve the appearance of the iron.

Attention is directed to the fact that the manually operated member or knob 65, for adjusting the ironing temperature, is located on the handle at some distance from the body of the iron and is connected to the thermostatic switch within the body of the iron by means of the translating member 58. The translating member 58 is subject, throughout a considerable portion of its length, to the cooling effect of the surrounding air, and, consequently, does not transmit any great amount of heat to the knob 65. As a result of this location of the knob and of the cooling of the translation member, the knob never becomes excessively heated or heated to a point which might in any wise injure the operator in manipulating the same. Furthermore, this location of the knob is of materially greater convenience than where the knob is located on the body directly above the thermostatic switch. It will also be observed that by this location greater space is allowed between the handle and the body of the iron, without increasing the overall height of the iron, so that there is no danger of the knuckles of the operator accidentally coming into contact with heated portions of the iron.

Attention is further directed to the fact that I have provided independent means for limiting the temperature range of the iron. The pin 42 and the screw 31 with its shoulders 45 and 46 serve to limit the temperatures of the iron regardless of the position of the translating member 58. With this construction, even though the translating member 58 should be damaged and bent out of shape due to rough treatment of the iron, the thermostat could not be adjusted to operate above a certain predetermined maximum and no damage would be occasioned to the iron due to over-heating. The construction serves to limit the temperature range and prevent damage to the iron regardless of what may happen to the manual temperature control. Furthermore, it should be noted that the construction is such that this temperature range is set at the factory and can only be changed thereafter with considerable diil'iculty which precludes the possibility of the device being tampered with by the user and thus throwing off the permanent adjustment.

While I have thus described and illustrated a specific embodimentof my invention, I am aware that numerous alterations and changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims, in which I claim:

1. The combination in an electric sadiron having a body and a handle spaced therefrom, of a thermostatic switch including a bimetallic blade for opening the electrical circuit through the iron, pivotally supported for determining the circuit opening temperature, a pivotally supported lever arranged to rotate said bimetallic blade to predetermine the switch opening temperature, means extending from the lever to the handle, means on the handle for actuating said last mentioned means to control the position of said lever and set the switch opening temperature, and means independent oi said lever to limit the rotation of the bimetallic blade to maintain the temperature of the iron within safe operating limits upon damage to said first mentioned means.

2. The combination in an electric sadiron having a body and a handle including handle straps attached to the body spacing the handle therefrom, one of said straps having a longitudinally disposed slot, of a thermostatic switch located in the body for automatically maintaining a predetermined ironing temperature therein, a manually operated ccntrol member on the handle, and a translation member extending between the manually operated control member and the thermostatic switch to translate motion between said parts to predetermine said ironing temperature, said translation member being positioned in said slot for free circulation of air around said member.

3. The combination in an electric sadiron having a body and a handle spaced therefrom, of a pivotally supported bimetallic blade located in close proximity to the ironing surface rotatable to determine the operating temperature of the iron, control means carried on the handle extending into the body and terminating adjacent the top of the body, means within the'body acting betpeen the control means and the bimetallic blade t'o rotate the blade upon actuation of the control means, and means associated with said last mentioned means positioned for access thereto through the cover, to set the position oi the bimetallic blade with respect to the control means.

4. The combination in an electric sadiron having a body and a handle spaced therefrom, of a pivotally supported bimetallic blade located in close proximity to the ironing surface and rotatable about a horizontal axis to determine the operating temperature of the iron, a vertically disposed member reciprocable longitudinally to rotate said blade, means to limit the amplitude of said reciprocation, control means carried on said handle and lever means within the body acting between the control means and said member for imparting reciprocation to said member to set the operating temperature of the iron.

HORACE C. WRIGHT. 

